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REVIEW: Mysterious Girlfriend X episodes 1-6


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Scormio





PostPosted: Mon May 21, 2012 12:19 pm Reply with quote
I understand why you put slow as a negative, but personally I think it's a positive, considering I think it makes it more realistic. Though I guess realism is a bit weird in a show about magical drool, but still.
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Stark700



Joined: 30 Jan 2012
Posts: 11762
Location: Earth
PostPosted: Mon May 21, 2012 12:58 pm Reply with quote
While it's not one of my highlights for this Spring Season, I'm still enjoying watching the series so far. The animation style does seem old school and Ukabe's character is someone unusual that I haven't seen much of in recent series. I'll give some credit to the new VA playing her character though as her ability is quite noticeable despite being new to the industry.

I've also heard good things about the manga so might keep an eye on that as well. Looking forward to more episodes for this rather unique anime this Spring.
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Mario1234567



Joined: 05 Sep 2008
Posts: 614
PostPosted: Mon May 21, 2012 2:25 pm Reply with quote
This show is amazing there is NO reason for it not to have straight A+++++++++++++++! I don't normally comment on these but I had to..
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Snomaster1
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Joined: 31 Aug 2011
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PostPosted: Mon May 21, 2012 2:32 pm Reply with quote
I'm sorry to rain on everyone's parade but magical drool? There are many words that a premise like this inspires and one of them is...YUCK!!!! I'm sorry but I fail to find anything romantic about drool. For me,the whole thing makes me a bit nauseous. I'm sorry if I'm going on about the drool but that seems to be the main part of this series and I think that it's more than a little disgusting.
I'm going to put "Mysterious Girlfriend X" on my must miss list. Magical drool may inspire a lot of things but for me,romance isn't one of them.
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danilo07



Joined: 25 Dec 2011
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PostPosted: Mon May 21, 2012 2:34 pm Reply with quote
Snomaster1 wrote:
I'm sorry to rain on everyone's parade but magical drool? There are many words that a premise like this inspires and one of them is...YUCK!!!! I'm sorry but I fail to find anything romantic about drool. For me,the whole thing makes me a bit nauseous. I'm sorry if I'm going on about the drool but that seems to be the main part of this series and I think that it's more than a little disgusting.
I'm going to put "Mysterious Girlfriend X" on my must miss list. Magical drool may inspire a lot of things but for me,romance isn't one of them.

You are 7 weeks late my friend.
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dragon695



Joined: 28 Nov 2008
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PostPosted: Mon May 21, 2012 2:55 pm Reply with quote
Sorry, but the drool looks like semen or ectoplasm (take your pick) so it isn't something I care for in a non-hentai series.
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walw6pK4Alo



Joined: 12 Mar 2008
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PostPosted: Mon May 21, 2012 3:04 pm Reply with quote
It could be worse, it could be bond shared through seminal and vaginal fluids, how disgusting, clearly nobody like oral sex. But yeah, the externalization and heightened sensationalization through visual and sound effects really do make the drool to be something more potent to the viewer than the innocuous mouth-wetter in reality. Do you physically cringe every time to see a ball player spit on camera? I guess it's a bad habit and not something you prefer to see, but it doesn't give me the dry heaves or make me wince.

I knew the drool was the main glue tying together the characters when I first started reading the manga in mid 2010, that was the initial hook I was going for, and maybe it helps when you do know what to expect and adjust your priorities accordingly. If you really can't stand spit, then maybe you might have to sit this one out. There's no reason to force someone to watch something when they dislike a major element that's not going away, it's integral to the story and one of the main drivers of what little relationship conflict we get.
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HaruhiToy



Joined: 15 Apr 2008
Posts: 4118
PostPosted: Mon May 21, 2012 4:08 pm Reply with quote
For me the primary difficulty is the general ineptness of the male lead. Although it is probably fairly realistic it isn't that much fun to watch.
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enurtsol



Joined: 01 May 2007
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PostPosted: Mon May 21, 2012 4:14 pm Reply with quote
Don't ya guys like backwash? Laughing
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Fronzel



Joined: 11 Sep 2003
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PostPosted: Mon May 21, 2012 4:27 pm Reply with quote
I though the drool thing in the manga was an obvious but clever-enough reference to the fluid exchange that takes place in most physical acts of romantic love...but the anime just seems intent on making it out as a straight fetish, hence the slimy viscosity.

I wish they had been more restrained, but seeing the studio's past works in this review, I guess that was a vain hope.
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Kohii



Joined: 12 Nov 2010
Posts: 428
PostPosted: Mon May 21, 2012 4:47 pm Reply with quote
It' a show with old school art, featuring old school characters, in the not so distant past (seriously, how many kids with cellphones have we seen in this show?). I personally like it, but the negative points are accurate. It is pretty iceberg-paced.
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zensunni



Joined: 05 Mar 2010
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PostPosted: Mon May 21, 2012 4:50 pm Reply with quote
First things first: Nice review. I would rate it an A or A+, but I am an unrepentant fanboy for Urabe. Smile

(Incidentally, since they usually are referred to as Urabe and Tsubaki in the show and manga, it is a bit odd that you use their given names in the review. Perhaps it is an indication of that you have grown to have a sense of familiarity with them? LOL!)

When I first saw the description of this show, back when the anime was announced, I noticed that the manga was from the same magazine (Afternoon) as my all time favorite, Ah! My Goddess. Wondering what this really strange sounding story might be like, I looked up the manga. Three days of rather obsessive reading later, I was waiting impatiently for the next chapter! I was hooked!

The anime, in my opinion, is a masterwork of adaptation! As a fan of the manga, the one big fault I have found with it is the inattention to the time-line. It seems that Ueshiba-sensei writes stories to match the season of the year, not to follow the lives of our main couple as they age. So there have been about 4 or 5 cycles of summer/winter uniforms in the manga, but in one of the most recent chapters, their room is still 2-A. So, in the manga, they don't age, they just experience things at various times of the year, as the author sees fit.

Creative license is fine, but it really makes it frustrating to make sense of where the story is going... The director and screenwriter seem to have realized this, and are mixing up chapters and putting together a nice, coherent storyline that is faithful to the original, but improved! They have put the story together in a way that tells the same story, but also provides a much better narrative flow than the manga ever had. In all fairness, it is a monthly slice-of-life manga, so flow of the story is really not needed, as most chapters are pretty much stand-alone, with only a few of multi-chapter arcs over the course of the sixty-some existing chapters.

As for the slowness, it is what it is. There are times that I feel that way about the manga too, but that is part of the hook, in my opinion. I have grown to appreciate the pacing of the story, and didn't expect the anime to do anything different. Also, as I stated earlier Ah My Goddess is one of my all time favorites, so slow romantic development is not something I have a problem with! LOL!

A lot of it seems to boil down to Ueshiba's feeling that there is too much of a rush to get into physical relationships in modern youth, and MGX is kind of an exploration of the wonders of a relationship that is building toward, but has not reached a state of physical intimacy. I remember reading a comment he made about why he put the characters age at the 16/17 range. The comment was something to the effect of: if you have a story with two middle school students that are attracted to each other and end up spending the night together, your assumption would be that they wouldn't have sex, while if it were two college age students, you would expect that they would. High school is the middle ground where you just don't know. They are legally old enough, but inexperienced. Will they? Won't they? It is just an age that leaves open many narrative possibilities.

I think that explains a lot about why so many manga and anime romances are set in high school, but also explains why Ueshiba is moving the relationship in this story along at such a slow pace. This is the area of the relationship he wants to explore. Once the relationship crosses a certain line, the mystery is gone...
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Cecilthedarkknight_234



Joined: 02 Apr 2011
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PostPosted: Mon May 21, 2012 6:23 pm Reply with quote
Fronzel wrote:
I though the drool thing in the manga was an obvious but clever-enough reference to the fluid exchange that takes place in most physical acts of romantic love...but the anime just seems intent on making it out as a straight fetish, hence the slimy viscosity.

I wish they had been more restrained, but seeing the studio's past works in this review, I guess that was a vain hope.


it's a 12 epiosde adapt so they have make a choices that will move sales. Personally I don't mind the drool and it has come down a notch since the first episode.
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Keichitsu0305





PostPosted: Mon May 21, 2012 7:08 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
Anime girls are also normally either girly girls or pure tomboys, but Mikoto falls somewhere in between, as she is definitely feminine but definitely not ladylike.


Urabe is main reason why I enjoy this show so much (as well as her interactions with Tsubaki and the supernatural elements.)

She isn't any kind of stereotypical, cookie cutter girlfriend you see in most Shonen rom-coms; although, technically this is a Seinen. She is, in fact, very weird and she does some 'odd' things like placing scissors in her undies which magically never cuts her. (O_o)
But, regardless, Urabe is a very enjoyable person to watch. Tsubaki is rather typical as the leading male but his normalcy balances out Urabe's weirdness.

Glad I'm watching this series and I'm not grossed out by the drool (which is, of course, symbolic.)
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P€|\||§_|\/|ast@



Joined: 14 Feb 2006
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PostPosted: Mon May 21, 2012 7:25 pm Reply with quote
Kohii wrote:
It' a show with old school art, featuring old school characters, in the not so distant past (seriously, how many kids with cellphones have we seen in this show?). I personally like it, but the negative points are accurate. It is pretty iceberg-paced.
You know, I've been asking myself that question several times. I don't see a reason why they would need to make the setting of this show the early 90's, or possibly even late 80's since there's nothing historically relevant to the story. Perhaps it's a common notion that placing the characters in a specific timeframe in the past adds to that sense of innocence and naivety that is appropriate for a story like this. Or it could be that the mangaka set the story in that 80's-90's era and the anime adaptation didn't have a reason to change that.
Keichitsu0305 wrote:
She is, in fact, very weird and she does some 'odd' things like placing scissors in her undies which magically never cuts her. (O_o)
The scissors or her panties? In the back of my mind I keep thinking any panties tight enough to hold a heavy pair of scissors in place would seriously have to be cutting off some circulation.
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